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iOS 5 release and OTA installation

Ask iLounge offers readers the opportunity to get answers to their iPod-, iPhone-, iPad-, iTunes-, or Apple TV-related questions from a member of the iLounge editorial team. We'll answer several questions here each week, and of course, you can always get help with more immediate concerns from the iLounge Discussion Forums. Submit your questions for consideration using our Ask iLounge Submit Form. We reserve the right to edit questions for grammar, spelling, and length.

Q: Will the initial download of iOS 5 be wireless or a tethered download? My old slow laptop might not survive another update.

- Jeff

A: Unfortunately for your laptop, you’re going to need to initially install iOS 5 the old-fashioned way through iTunes. The issue is that the feature to perform over-the-air updates is actually in iOS 5, so you can’t use it until you already have iOS 5 on your device.

The good news, however, is that will hopefully be the last time you’ll need to update through iTunes, since once you have iOS 5 installed, future updates should all be available over-the-air.